By Mike Schnitzel
"She loved it there," said her son, Larry Lombardo. "She had a lot of friends there. She was a very friendly, open person."
Bartlett died of natural causes on July 10, at age 67.
"She loved her children and she loved the holidays," said Lombardo. "She liked the idea of everybody being together and the spirit of Christmas. Her favorite time of the year was the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas."
Bartlett enjoyed preparing traditional Italian meals for the holidays. If you sat down at the family dining table at Christmas you would likely find a main course of fish. If it happened to be Easter, it was a lamb dinner. Bartlett also enjoyed making scones for friends, family and herself. And ideally, all of the holiday preparations would take place with Lynbrook as a backdrop. "She lived most of her life in Lynbrook," said Lombardo. "Lynbrook was home."
Born on Nov. 26, 1938, in Queens, Bartlett grew up in Inwood and attended high school in Lawrence, her son said. She worked for a time at South Nassau Communities Hospital as an orderly, transporting patients throughout the facility. She also worked at the local Stop & Shop as a cashier. "She always made do with what she had -- she always made other people happy," said Lombardo. "At Christmastime she made sure that everyone had presents under the tree, and that everyone was enjoying themselves."
A love of knickknacks led Bartlett to amass a collection of them, which she enjoyed showing to friends and family. She liked to have a lot of people around to socialize with, her son said. That was her way. She married Kenneth Bartlett, a custodian who worked in the Lynbrook School District for 35 years, in 1987.
A wake was held for Bartlett at Flinch and Bruns Funeral Home July 13. A funeral mass was held at the home the next day, followed by the burial at Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale. In addition to her husband and Lombardo, Bartlett is survived by three children from a previous marriage, Rosalie, Frances and Joanne, and three grandchildren, Joseph, Jennifer and Allison. A son, Vincent, died last year.
